00:00I want to make sure everybody knows we are very far from confirmation that Christian McCaffrey is staging a hold
00:08-in.
00:09Right now, it's nothing more than a curiosity.
00:13Maybe he is, and it's been put out there.
00:16Pro Football Talk and Mike Florey, I'll play it for you in a sec.
00:20He just did, like, we're at the stage in our career where we can just, we can say stuff like
00:26this.
00:26This is what broadcasters do when they don't want to stick their name on something, but they want to bring
00:32something up.
00:34A lot of people are saying, if you hear that in broadcasting, it's a whimper.
00:43I've done it, so I'm not even taking a shot at him.
00:46I've done it, but it's a way of saying an opinion without kind of putting yourself in the crosshairs.
00:54So, this is what Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk, did with regard to the Christian McCaffrey situation.
01:04Sometimes when you try to understand things happening in the NFL, you need to look at the timeline.
01:08For example, Falcons running back Bajon Robinson gets a big contract a couple of days later.
01:13Lions running back Jameer Gibbs gets a big contract a couple of days later.
01:1749ers running back Christian McCaffrey starts missing practice due to tightness.
01:22He's now missed a week of practice, and some are wondering whether or not his tightness, whether his absence from
01:28practice,
01:29relates to a desire to get an adjustment to his contract, given what Robinson and Gibbs are being paid.
01:37McCaffrey's now 30.
01:38He's due to make $12.5 million this year.
01:40None of it is guaranteed.
01:42He's got one last bite at the apple, and now is the time to take it.
01:46And now is the time to protect himself while he lays the foundation to get that sweetener.
01:52He doesn't need the preseason.
01:54He doesn't need the extra reps.
01:55He is ready to go.
01:56He's always ready to go.
01:58But he may be ready to sit until he gets that contract.
02:01Some believe that it's going to happen.
02:03Either way, we'll see if the 49ers pay him one last time before Christian McCaffrey's career runs out.
02:09See how he gets the entire opinion out there, but at the same time, he twice goes, some are wondering.
02:15Right.
02:16Some are wondering if this is what Christian's doing.
02:18Sure.
02:19It's fair to wonder, but I just wanted to do that first because I want our listeners to know that's
02:25what's going on.
02:27Some are wondering.
02:29Christian McCaffrey is not a confirmed hold-in yet.
02:32And, quite frankly, we'll probably never get confirmation on this.
02:37The most recent example of leg tightness was Jawan Jennings last year.
02:43Was that a hold-in?
02:45I believe it probably was.
02:47I mean, leg tightness, it can happen.
02:50Yeah.
02:50Cavs are tricky, as we know.
02:52Yeah.
02:52And I also think if you look at it from both sides where, you know, McCaffrey's coming off a major
02:57touch year,
02:58and so every time he's done that, it has not gone well for him on the field.
03:02But at the same time, he's only 30, and he is your best offensive weapon as a skill guy.
03:09And so do you want him around?
03:11Absolutely you want him around.
03:12But you look at next year, and I do think that his number goes up dramatically.
03:16His base salary goes up, and the bonuses continue to hit.
03:19So, if you're the team, and you also want him to be around, it makes mutual sense to look at
03:25the deal and maybe rework it.
03:27Yep.
03:27Yep.
03:27So, like, that, A, that might be what's going on.
03:32B, we can speculate.
03:34I mean, do you think that that's probably what's going on?
03:37I don't think it's probably what's going on, but I do think that it might be a piece of it
03:41in the background,
03:42because you mentioned the two guys, Gibbs and B. John Robinson, who just got fresh money.
03:47And it turns out the running back market was only dead for, like, a year or two.
03:51Picked up a little bit.
03:51And it's all the way back.
03:52Well, it's still too low.
03:55Fine.
03:56But if you're McCaffrey, and you're thinking, B. John and Jameer, like, hold my beer with career stats,
04:01and I'm still that guy, I led the league in touches.
04:04And so, yeah, maybe I want to go out there and get a little bit more for me.
04:07Here's what I mean by it's too low, real quick.
04:09I mean, if I asked you, you're building a football team, okay?
04:13I'm going to give you five players.
04:16Five players.
04:17I want you to pick one, okay?
04:19Here are the five players.
04:20Christian McCaffrey, Jameer Gibbs, B. John Robinson, Jamar Chase, and C.D. Lamb.
04:26Who are you picking?
04:27Who do you want?
04:27I would take the running backs before the wide receivers.
04:29All three?
04:30Yeah.
04:31I would go Gibbs first and then Robinson probably.
04:34And, you know, McCaffrey, I love C.D. Lamb and all the rest.
04:37But, like, wide receiver, it comes down to me, like, the value over replacement player,
04:43the VORP in baseball.
04:44And if you go from McCaffrey to Black or you go to Jordan James, that's a bigger drop than,
04:50I don't know, Mike Evans to Dijon Stribling, for example.
04:53I mean, absolutely.
04:55I guess right now, I mean, I use Chase and Lamb, but Lamb is one, two, three, four.
05:03He's sixth.
05:05Dude, Zay Flowers makes almost twice what Jameer Gibbs makes.
05:09Yep.
05:10Go earn it.
05:10Okie dokie.
05:11Go do it, yep.
05:12If that's how y'all want to do your team.
05:16Okay.
05:17I mean, it's how the Niners did their team and then the Bryn Ayuk thing happened.
05:21And they screwed up.
05:22They screwed up.
05:23And I think they know they screwed up, which is probably why, I mean, this is,
05:29I mean, we're totally off on a tangent here, but this is why I would be in favor,
05:34and I've totally rethought this since it happened, but there's always the talk about,
05:39ah, the Niners keep drafting wide receivers.
05:42They draft Pearsall and then you draft Stribling.
05:45And it's like, why do you keep drafting wide receivers?
05:47I kind of hope they do it every year because that way you have a shot unless someone proves
05:54themselves to be unbelievably special.
05:58Smith and Jigba, Puka, if we have one of those kinds of rookie contracts, then sure, sure,
06:05we'll sign up to keep you.
06:07But outside of that, turn and burn, dude, turn and burn.
06:11I just keep drafting wide receivers.
06:13And I'll keep having a receiver room that's largely a bunch of second, third, and maybe
06:18fourth-year guys sprinkling some veterans.
06:21And if they're not worth $40 million at the end of their three or four years, bye-bye.
06:25Let them go.
06:26Because I don't want to do those deals.
06:28This is, for me, this is what has the Bungles stuck in mud all the time.
06:32Agreed.
06:33And I do like the way that the Niners are now building their room, which is Mike Evans,
06:37short-term deal, Robinson, Kirk, short-term deals.
06:40These are veterans.
06:41And then you've got the drafted Ricky Pearsall, see you next year.
06:44You've got Stribling, same.
06:45Deebo Samuel, short-term deal.
06:47So I think the way you want to do it is a mix of veterans who you can bank on,
06:52bank as
06:53far as football goes, short-term deals.
06:55And then you draft a guy, you love him early, and maybe he's going to work out.
06:59Another quick aside.
07:00I think we've been working on a faulty premise in the wide receiver room.
07:03Which one?
07:04The insiders all think Christian Kirk's not even making this team.
07:08Wow, yeah.
07:09I can see that.
07:10Like, I mean, I don't know if that's solely because he got hurt and has missed all this
07:14time, or if enough of the young guys, Watkins, certainly Stribling, duh, Cowing, finally
07:23got back to practice, had a really, really good practice over the weekend, made some
07:26big plays.
07:27Plus, Watkins and Cowing can potentially return kicks.
07:31I don't think they think Christian Kirk's making this club.
07:34I mean, it becomes a little bit of a wide receiver survivor, right?
07:37As you always like to do.
07:38And if you start to look at five guys, maybe six, he feels to me like number seven.
07:43Well, I think a lot of people thought he would make the team over to Marcus Robinson, and
07:46that is not going to be the case as it's turning out.
07:49So, kind of interesting, want to throw that in there, but anyway, let's get to the McCaffrey
07:53thing a little bit further on.
07:56In other words, A, do you think that's what's going on?
07:59And B, if you're the 49ers, what do you want to do about it?
08:03If Christian McCaffrey is asking for a little bump.
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